Vanity Fair

American  

noun

1. (in Bunyan'sPilgrim's Progress ) a fair that goes on perpetually in the town of Vanity and symbolizes worldly ostentation and frivolity.

2. (often lowercase) any place or group, as the world or fashionable society, characterized by or displaying a preoccupation with idle pleasures or ostentation.

3. (italics) a novel (1847–48) by Thackeray.

---

Vanity Fair British  

noun

1. literary (often not capitals) the social life of a community, esp of a great city, or the world in general, considered as symbolizing worldly frivolity

---

Vanity Fair Cultural  

1. (1847–1848) A novel by the English author William Makepeace Thackeray. The leading character is Becky Sharp, an unscrupulous woman who gains wealth and influence by her cleverness.

---

Etymology

Origin of Vanity Fair

from Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress

Example Sentences

L.A. voters have seen the arrival of AI campaign videos, an influx of dark money mailers and national media coverage from US Weekly, Vanity Fair and many other outlets, thanks in large part to Pratt.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 1, 2026

“Our tongue is like a sword,” RZA once told Vanity Fair.

From Salon • May 31, 2026

Vanity Fair dubbed her an “improbable feminist icon.”

From Slate • May 6, 2026

Ms. Lemann was commissioned by Vanity Fair to report on the trial but her piece never ran in the magazine due to its amusing lack of journalistic rigor.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026

This was a new city and a foreign country, the city of Vanity Fair and Great Expectations.

From "Genuine Fraud" by E. Lockhart